
When I was pregnant with my first baby, a work colleague emailed me a list of everything I “absolutely NEEDED” in preparation for our baby’s arrival. It was more than two A4 pages long. I mean, seriously?
As a first time pregnant woman who was already freaked out about giving birth and being responsible for a little human being, this list scared me senseless. I rushed home and told my husband about all the things we didn’t yet have, and how we HAD to go buy them. And you know what? Many of these items turned out to be quite useless and unnecessary expenses.
I’m currently 38 weeks pregnant with our second baby and to some extent I’ve learned to navigate all the non-stop advice out there about pregnancy and beyond. I’ve packed my hospital bag and rearranged our new nursery just a few times this time around (unlike my first pregnancy, when I probably did both more than 50 times over), and I think I’ve worked out what’s absolutely necessary.

In the early days, all a newborn does is feed, sleep and go to the toilet. In addition, your tastes and needs will change as you go through the first few weeks and months. So, go easy on the pre-purchasing. Yes, you might need to buy some items down the track, but there are some that you just don’t need to bother with right now.
Here are my top tips:
For hospital:
- Maternity/heavy duty sanitary pads – and plenty of them.
- Black underwear (trust me, black is best).
- Feeding bras or singlets with snaps on the shoulders for easy feeding.
- Some form of music, iPad and/or book.
- Chocolate (okay this probably isn’t a necessity, but you’ll appreciate having stashed a block in your bag) and other snacks. Hospital food sucks.
